Multi-disk player with automatic volume control

ABSTRACT

A recording medium reproduction device with automatic volume control which retrieves the current reproducing level in response to a reproducing level memory command and is maintained in memory in a location corresponding to discriminating information for a recording medium is provided. During reproduction, the stored reproduction level corresponding to a recording medium to be played is read out and set based on the discriminating information.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/285,266 filed Dec. 16,1988, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a recording medium reproduction devicewith automatic volume control, and more particularly, to a diskrecording medium reproduction device with automatic volume control.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A multi-disk player, for example, which is capable of executingcontinuous reproduction of music from a plurality of disks, is known,wherein the reproduction of music is programmed in an order selected andspecified in advance, or is executed in a random fashion so that musicis played by making musical selections in accordance with random numbersor the like, by previously setting the volume for a plurality diskshoused in a magazine.

The recording level of disks may not be the same so that when thereproduction level is kept fixed, it results in a variation of thevolume in response to the recording level of each disk. Heretofore, inthe multi-disk player the reproduction level is kept mixed unless theuser adjusts it so that the reproduction level remains the same evenwhen the disk is changed. Therefore, when the recording level isdifferent for each disk housed in the magazine, the sound volume changesevery time the disk is changed which is uncomfortable for the listener.Furthermore, in order to avoid such discomfort the user had to manuallyadjust the sound volume for each disk change.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is the object of the present invention toprovide a recording medium reproduction device with automatic volumecontrol which is capable of automatically setting the volume for eachrecording medium during reproduction.

A recording medium reproduction device with automatic volume controlaccording to the present invention retrieves the current reproductionlevel in response to a reproduction level memory command and maintainsthat level in memory in a location corresponding to discriminatinginformation for a recording medium, and during reproduction, the storedreproduction level corresponding to a recording medium to be played isread out and set based on the discriminating information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a multi-disk player withautomatic volume control in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flow charts showing the procedure for setting thevolume in the multi-disk player of FIG. 1 and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the procedure for volume setting for thesingle-disk player.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described indetail as follow, with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a multi-disk player withautomatic volume control as an example of the recording mediumreproduction device with automatic volume control of the presentinvention. In the figure, a magazine 1 arranges and houses six disksD1-D6, for example, one after another with a predetermined pitch. Sixtrays (not shown) which carry disks are provided in a manner so thatthey are freely projectable and retractable with respect to the mainbody of the magazine. The magazine 1 is freely attachable and detachableon a predetermined mounting part of the player main body. One of the sixdisks D₁ to D₆ placed on the six respective trays provided in themagazine 1 is retrieved by a disk retrieval and transport mechanism 2,and then carried onto a turntable 4 fixed to the rotary shaft of aspindle motor 3 where it is clamped.

The disk retrieval and transport mechanism 2 has a thrusting memberwhich thrusts out a tray in the magazine 1 and moves a disk on the trayto the turntable 4. A clamping mechanism which clamps the disk when itis moved by the thrusting mechanism onto the turntable 4, and a movingplate which changes the relative position in the arranging direction ofthe housed disks of the thrusting member with respect to the magazine 1are also provided in the disk retrieval and transport mechanism. Inaddition, a sensor which detects the position of the moving plate,action of the clamping mechanism and the like is disposed in the diskretrieval and transport mechanism.

In the disk retrieval and transport mechanism 2 the moving plate and thethrusting member are driven by motors Ma and Mb, respectively. Selectionof a disk is made possible by changing the position of the thrustingmember through shifting of the moving plate. The specific structures ofthe magazine 1 and the disk retrieval and transport mechanism 2 aredisclosed in detail in Japanese Patent Laid Open, Gazette No. 62-14369.

Recorded information in a disk rotated by the spindle motor 3 is read bya pickup 5, and after the RF signal which is read therefrom isdemodulated in a demodulation and correction circuit 6 and subjected toprocessing such as error correction, it is supplied to an electronicvolume control device 7 which is a level adjusting means. An audiosignal whose reproduction level is set in the electronic volume controldevice 7 is reproduced by a speaker 9 through an amplifier 8. The volumeof a reproduced signal issued from the speaker 9 is determined by thereproduction level set in the electronic volume device 7. Setting of thereproduction level is carried out in a controller 10.

The controller 10 consists of a microcomputer which controls theelectronic volume device 7 in order to adjust the reproduction level inresponse to activation of a volume up/down key 11a in a control unit 11.In addition, when a reproduction level memory command is issued as aresult of activation of a memory key 11b, the reproduction level at thattime is retrieved from the electronic volume device 7, and stored in amemory such as a RAM, which corresponds to discriminating information ofa disk such as disk number (which is input through a disk number key11c) which shows the order in which the disks are housed in themagazine 1. During reproduction the controller 10 reads the reproductionlevel corresponding to the disk to be played from the memory 12 based onthe disk number, and controls the electronic volume device 7 so that thesignal which is output coincides with the reproduction level which wasread out. Furthermore, the controller 10 executes various controlsrequired for continuous playing, programmed playing or random playing,and also controls the motors Ma and Mb discussed previously via drivingcircuits 13 and 14.

Next, the procedure performed by the processor of the controller 10 forstoring the reproduction level will be described with reference to theflow chart in FIG. 2.

When the processor detects activation of the volume up/down key 11a ofthe control part 11 (step S1), it controls the electronic volume device7 in order to raise or lower the reproduction level (step S2). Next,when activation of the memory key 11b to issue a reproduction levelmemory command is detected (step S3), confirmation that there was aninput through the volume up/down key 11a is performed (step S4). Ifconfirmed, then the reproduction level at that time is stored in thememory 12 at a location corresponding to the disk number (step S5).Here, it is assumed that the disk numbers have been specified beforehandby the disk number keys 11c "1" to "6" prior to the setting of thereproduction level.

Next, referring to the flow chart in FIG. 3, the procedure forautomatically setting the volume based on the reproduction level, whichhas been stored for each disk according to the procedure set forthabove, will be described.

The processor first determines whether or not the magazine 1 is loaded(step S11), and if it is found that it is not loaded, clears the memoryin which the reproduction level is to be stored (step S12), and returnsto step S11. If, on the other hand, the magazine 1 is loaded, adetermination is made whether or not the device is playing (step S13),and if it is found that the device is not playing, processing isperformed to stop processing (step S14), and then returns to step S11.If it is found to be playing, a determination is made whether or not achange of a disk was specified by the indication of a disk number "1" to"6" by means of the disk number keys 11c (step S15), and retrieves thespecified disk number in the case of a direct change (step S16).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the specified disk numbercoincides with the current disk number, namely, whether or not thespecified disk is the same one which is currently being played (stepS17). When the specified disk differs from the disk currently beingplayed, it is determined whether or not the reproduction level of thespecified disk is stored in the memory 12 (step S18). If it is foundthat it was already stored, the reproduction level of the disk is readout of the memory 12 and set, based on the specified disk number (stepS19), and the device proceeds to play that disk (step S20). When it isdetermined in step S17 that the specified disk is the same as that whichis currently being played, or when it is determined in step S18 that thereproduction level of the specified disk is not stored in the memory 12,the device proceeds as is to step S20, and starts playing with thecurrent reproduction level maintained as it is.

In step S15 when it is determined that there is no disk changespecification, a determination is made whether or not the music beingreproduced is completed (step S21). If the music being reproduced hasnot yet completed, it returns to step S11. When it is found that themusic being reproduced has ended, a determination is made whether or notit is programmed playing (step S22), and if it is determined to beprogrammed playing, the disk number for the next step is called up (stepS23), and then proceeds to step S17 to determine whether or not the diskto be played next is the same as that currently being played. Followingthis, steps S18 to S20 described above will be executed.

In step S22, when it is determined that it is not programmed playing, adetermination is made whether or not it is random playing (step S24),and if it is determined to be random playing, the disk number to berandomly played next is called up (step S25), and then proceeds to stepS17 to determine whether or not the disk to be played next is the sameas that currently being played. Following this, actions for steps S18 toS20 described above will be executed.

When a determination is made in step S24 that the device is not in arandom play mode, a determination is made whether or not the music ofthe disk now being played is completed (step S26), and if it is foundthat it is not completed yet, the device returns to step S11. When musicof the disk currently being played ends, the number of next disk to beplayed is retrieved (step S27), then the device proceeds to step S17 todetermine whether or not the disk to be played next is the same as thatcurrently being played. After these steps, steps S18 to S20 describedabove will be executed.

In this manner, the present invention eliminates the nuisance for theuser in adjusting the volume every time he changes a disk, by settingreproduction level for each disk and storing it in advance in a locationin memory corresponding to the disk number, and during reproductionselecting the stored reproduction level based on the disk number therebyautomatically setting the volume for each disk. Accordingly, when therecording level is different for each disk housed in the magazine 1, forexample, reproduction can be executed with constant volume without theneed to adjust the volume at every disk change, by setting and storingthe reproduction level of each disk in advance. Therefore, anydiscomfort the listener might experience due to volume change at eachdisk change can be eliminated. In addition, in dubbing a disk, there isno need to fine-tune the recording level at every disk change. On thecontrary, effective reproduction of music can be enjoyed because avolume suitable to the program contents can be set automatically byarbitrarily varying the reproduction levels in response to the programcontents of the disks.

It should be noted that although the present invention has beendescribed in conjunction with a multi-disk player, it can be appliedalso to a single-disk player. In the case of the single-disk player, oneneeds only to use TOC (Table of Contents) information read from eachdisk as discriminating information, and store the reproduction level andTOC information as a pair for each disk. During reproduction, the deviceproceeds as shown in FIG. 4. Namely, after executing setup processingfor the loaded disks (step S31), reading the TOC information of thedisks (step S32), it determines whether or not the reproduction level ofthe disk discriminated by the TOC information read out, is stored (stepS33). When it is stored, the stored reproduction level is read out andset based on the TOC information (step S34), and then the deviceproceeds to subsequent search and play operations. When the reproductionlevel for a disk to be played is not stored, it proceeds to search andplay operations with the reproduction level that is set in theelectronic volume device 7 at that time.

Moreover, the recording medium reproduction device with automatic volumecontrol is not limited to disk players, and may be applied to tapedecks. In the case of a tape deck, a bar code, for example, may bedisposed on each side of the cassette for use as discriminatinginformation for the cassette tape.

Furthermore, in each of the embodiments in the foregoing, it is assumedthat the reproduction level is stored corresponding to thediscriminating information of each recording medium. However, it is alsopossible to store the recording level along with the program for eachplaying program.

As described in the foregoing, according to the recording mediumreproduction device with automatic volume control of the presentinvention, it is possible to set the volume automatically for eachrecording medium, by retrieving the current reproduction level inresponse to a reproduction level memory command, and maintaining itstored in a location corresponding to discriminating information forrecording medium, and during reproduction reading and setting the storedreproduction level corresponding to the recording medium to be playedbased on the discriminating information. Therefore, the nuisance to theuser of having to adjust the volume every time the recording medium ischanged, can be eliminated, and the device becomes very convenient touse.

In particular, in a recording medium reproduction device with automaticvolume control for playing music by automatically changing the recordingmedium, when the recording level is different from one recording mediumto another, discomfort during listening due to a change in the volumewhich occurs at every change of the recording medium can be eliminated,by setting the reproduction level for each recording medium in advance.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multi-disk player with automatic volume controlprovided with a magazine including a magazine case and a plurality oftrays for carrying disks, said trays being arranged in order so as to becapable of freely projecting and retracting with respect to the magazinecase, wherein a tray corresponding to a disk designating number isprojected and a disk placed in said magazine is transported to a playingposition so as to be played, said multi-disk playercomprising:designating means for designating a disk number; leveladjusting means for adjusting the reproduction level of a signal readfrom a disk being played; memory control means, including memory means,for retrieving a current reproduction level of said level adjustingmeans in response to a reproduction level memory command, and storingsaid current reproduction level in said memory means with respect tosaid disk number; and level setting means for reading said storedreproduction level corresponding to a disk to be played from said memorymeans in response to said disk number and setting the reproduction levelof said level adjusting means to said read reproduction level forplaying the disk.
 2. The multi-disk player as recited in claim 1,wherein said level setting means seta said reproduction level of saidlevel adjusting means to a previously set reproduction level when thereproduction level for a disk to be played has not been stored in saidmemory.